Sunday, January 20, 2013

IELTS Advice: get some feedback

Many students are forced to study for the IELTS test alone. For one reason or another, they can't attend any classes or preparation courses. I started this blog with the aim of helping people in that position.

However, those people often reach the point where they need some direct guidance. They need someone to check their essays or listen to them speak.

If you keep getting the same score in every test that you take, it's probably time to find a teacher who can check your work and help you to become 'unstuck'.

Comments

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Hello, Mr. Simon. You are exactly true. No matter how you prepare,self-study or with siblings, you'll need a professional. I would say that it's hard to find a perfect one, in non-speaking english countries. So, how one can do his\her speaking?

Is fluency more important or using smart words?
Actually when I try to remember smart word and good grammars, I lose my fluency;
What is more important? I have my interview a week later! Please guide me to work on better quality of which of them

Hi Sarahe,
I may take this opportunity to answer your question . I think Accuracy and Fluency worth more marks and make your sound more natural. However,unusual vocabularies may not work in various situations . by the way most of the native speakers of every language don't use complicated works . it's just better for us make it easier by speaking smoothly using a wide range of grammars with usual words, I'd say.

The charts below show the number of Japanese tourists travelling abroad between 1985 and 1995and Australia’s share of the Japanese tourist market.

The bar chart shows the travelling abroad by Japanese in millions between 1985 and 1995 around the world whereas the line graph shows the percentage of Japanese travellers who visited Australia in the same period.
There is an increasing trend of Japanese travellers around the world during a decade. The number of travellers were only around 5 million initially which increased every year and reached to almost 15 million (3 times) in 1995.
The same trend has been observed in the second graph during the 10 years period except two years 1988-89 and 1994-95 where the trend is steep. Before 1985, the percentage of Japanese visited Australia is about to nil and then it increased to 6% in 1995.
In conclusion, both graphs present the rising trend about Japanese who travelled around the world and especially to Australia during a decade. It is not clear the purpose of travelling but probably it would be for leisure as well as for business.

Hi Simon,
I took the test on Jan 19 and I think that what I had done did not really meet my expectations.

First of all I'm really grateful for the awesome materials on this site. It helped me a lot. The Speaking test was about a vehicle I'd like to have and I think I did well.

Anyway, here's my question: In the Listening test, for many blanks I wrote the answers in plural form and will it affect my score? I mean, I think I got the answer right but just wrote it in plural (eg material -> materials) .

Hi Jen Ng,
Its difficult to answer for any person in the world.
but if the question is like -- He had one ______- then answer will be ticket not tickets. so your answer is wrong.
or
He baught _____ to go to work. then most probably answer should be car and if you have written cars then might be wrong.
but in some questions if you write singular or plural,both are acceptable but not all.

I agree that it is hard to find the "perfect" teacher, but how do you define "a good teacher"?

I've been tutoring students for 2-3 years now. Most of them have expressed their gratitude for finding me and said that I am a good tutor, but there was one extreme case that said I was mean and basically discouraged her to keep learning... My point is that teachers who suit some students could easily be a nightmare for others.

Anyway, I think there are 4 important steps that students should take before hiring a tutor:

1) Ask themselves what they specifically need/want from a teacher.
2) Communicate their thoughts and expectations with the prospective teacher.
3) Ask questions about the course and teaching methods (I believe this one is crucial).
4) Take the time to figure out whether the teacher can truly help out.

Hi Simon,
I appreciate your help.I learned and practiced all modules from your site without any tutor.i took exam 1st time and i got good score that my university accepts overall 6.5.R=6,w=6,L=7,S=7.Thanks for your help again.Great site.And i need help for GRE.you are giving GRE lessons as well?If yes,please recommend any sites?

hi simon
I need 7 in each part of academic exam. is the below strategy advisable?
1- i've read some IELTS course books for a couple months (just for involvement and familiarity)
2- at this time, I'm seriously following your posts from the first post by category(writing/speaking..)
3- I take note from your advise in posts and comment area
4- i extract useful vocabularies,phrases and ideas that you've mentioned so far and use them in my writing and speaking
5- I'm going to see a tutor for checking some of my works(writing and speaking )as the last step.
now my question :
a-to what extend do you agree or disagree with this plan :).
b- if i JUST rely on your site and close all other books(exept in need of vocabulary and grammar) ,is 7 in each band achievable?

Hi,
My name is Suman. I started using ielts-simon website just few day's before. This is my first post here. I just want to say it's really so helpful for IELTS students from all over the world who is using this site.
I'd say, thank you so much Simon for the opportunities we are getting to prepare ourselves for the future career. And Thank's all of you here. I wish that everyone achieve desire score.
If anyone here can suggest me to highest score in academic reading? specially I am confused false, not given.
Thank's again.
Suman

My Name is Kashif. I am desperately appearing almost every second IELTS-GT test, as I need 7 in each module. unfortunately, I am stuck with the writing module and not getting more than 6.5. Surprisingly, in the first attempt I got 7, but unable to score 7 in reading on that particular test. However, afterwards, I scored 7 twice in reading test. look forward to get help from available suggestions and material to achieve the magic number. Regards